Topics City Life

Board of Health Newspaper Clipping Scrapbooks at City Archives of Philadelphia, 1891-1908

Supporting the party in power

Sewers, Pollution, and Public Health in 19th Century Philadelphia

High Water: Flooding in Philadelphia

Drainage and Sewerage Report, 1853

Dealing with the city’s wastes in the mid-19th century

Oak Lane Reservoir pipeline, 1904

The Water and Drainage History of Philadelphia: A seven-part course

Imagine a Day Without Water

Image shows multicolored trees and a river cutting through them with two bridges visible

Watersheds: Learning to care for and protect our local water resources

William Penn balks at drinking the "mixed drink" offered him: Schuylkill water, mixed with pollution from the upstream sources named. Editorial cartoon by Fred Morgan, Philadelphia Inquirer, April 6, 1899. One of a series of cartoons drawn by Morgan protesting the state of the city's drinking water and trying to encourage the passage of legislation authorizing the construction of a water filtration system.

Half a Century of Clean Water: The Clean Water Act, 1972-2022

Map of Philadelphia showing Population in year 1920

Map of Philadelphia showing Population in year 1920

Philadelphia the Manufacturing and Industrial Capital map, 1906